How to Get the Most out of English?

How to Get the Most out of English? : Listen and Repeat Audio Aids

Listening to and repeating English language audio tapes is an important aspect of any English language learning programme. There are several things you can do to increase the memorability and get the most out of your learning aids.

The first thing you will want to do is to ensure that you have a large selection of audio aids in different formats. For example if you have a car you will want to have the English tapes in CD format so that you are easily able to listen to them whenever you drive anywhere. If you have a personal MP3 player or you are able to listen to music through your smart phone, make sure it is in the correct format so that you can listen to it that way. It seems obvious but the more you can listen to your tapes the more it will sink in and so getting them in the correct format will give you a head start from the get-go. There are several programs online that will be able to convert the tapes into different formats.

There are four main steps you can follow to get the most out of your audio aids:

1. Clear your mind prior to starting your learning session. If you are serious about learning English then you need to dedicate specific time slots to learning it. Clear your mind of any thoughts about other topics and give the tape your full attention. Try to remove any external distractions such as the phone ringing and the dog barking. If possible listen to the tape in a quiet, secluded place where you know you will not be interrupted.

2. Play the tape and try and absorb all of the information. Listen to each sentence on the tape several times or more until you feel it has really sunken in. If you are not sure about any of the pronunciation or vocabulary then just listen to it again.

3. Repeat each sentence out loud. Feel free to pause the tape if it does not give you a large enough time gap to do so. Repeating sentences will ensure that it gets memorized properly.

4. Continue to listen to the tape or story and start repeating larger chunks of it as you become more confident with the words. You may also want to write down the words in order to make them easier to remember in the long run.

If you are having difficulty in memorizing or understanding the tapes then you may want to take a look at the transcripts that come with it. If you are still having trouble perhaps the audio aid is a too higher level for you and you should try something a little easier. Although it’s tempting to throw yourself into the deep end, it is much more beneficial for you to start at the appropriate level and work yourself up.

To boost your productivity keep a diary of all the times you practice listening to the tape and write down any notes on how you think you are progressing.

The author of this article, Amy is a freelance editor for proofreading services such as Quality Proofreading and others. She enjoys writing on the topic of English language learning and acquisition.